Fracking nightmare: ‘Like living in a very heavy industrial zone’

A rig contracted by Apache Corp drills a horizontal well in a search for oil and natural gas in the Wolfcamp shale located in the Permian Basin in West Texas October 29, 2013. (Reuters) / Reuters

Texan anti-fracking activist Sharon Wilson described to RT the consequences of fracking she had to face, including being forced to move home due to air pollution, a lack of clean water and toxic chemicals.

Wilson was forced to move out of her home, which was located on
the Barnett Shale formation in Texas, because “it was like
living on the edge of a volcano,” according to her blog. She
became an activist to fight fracking and help others facing the
same situation.

RT:You had to move house because of fracking in your
neighborhood. What was the worst thing about it?

Sharon Wilson: It just totally changed the character of
the country. I moved to the country because I wanted my children
to grow up in peace and with clean air and clean water. At one
time I turned my tap on and nothing came out, which was very
frightening. The air was degraded horribly. Trucks, lights, noise
– it completely changed the character. It was like living in a
very heavy industrial zone.

RT:But what was so bad that you had to move?

SW: The worst concern to me was to end up without water or
that my son could end up being sick from the chemicals that he
was being exposed to.

RT:And of course, if you didn’t want to live there, it
would be difficult to find other people who would.

SW: I lost about $80,000 in property value.

RT:What action are you now taking against
fracking?

SW: For years I was a volunteer activist. And then, two
years ago, Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability Project hired me
to be their Texas organizer. I stay very busy here. People
contact me constantly with all sorts of problems they’re
experiencing.

RT:France introduced a ban on fracking. What's
stopping America from doing the same?

SW: There are a lot of local areas that have passed
banning resolutions all over the US. Pittsburgh was one of the
first. Just recently, four counties in Colorado passed bans. So,
it’s moving. It’s happening.

RT:Was your situation just one very sad, very sorry
case, or were there a lot of people who suffered from fracking
like you did?

SW: There are cases everywhere. One thing that you can
depend on is that as they expand this practice – more and more
people are harmed and more and more people join the opposition.
Now there’s an entire neighborhood, over 500 homes, in Denton
where they’re very, very close – 250 feet in some places – from
peoples’ backyards.

RT:We’re talking about a series of earthquakes and
tremors, which rocked Texas in the last few weeks. Have you felt
them?

SW: I’m a little bit out of the current earthquake swarm.
I’m out of that area now, but I’m in contact with the people who
have experienced them. There have actually been two 3.6
[magnitude] earthquakes.

RT:Do you think it has something to do with
fracking?

SW: Well, we’ve known since the 1960s that injection could
induce earthquakes. So, that’s not new news. They’re trying to
say that it’s only the injection of the waste that’s causing, but
this past year there have been three earthquakes that happened
during fracking. It’s getting harder and harder for the industry
to say that it’s not due to fracking.

RT:The US economy still has strong demand for that
fuel. Can you really expect corporations to pass up those
profits?

SW: There are great profits also in renewable energy. I
have solar panels on my house. Manufacturing the solar panels
created a one-time impact, but now they’ll produce energy for 20
years, with no impact at all. So, I think that the renewable
energy economy is taking over. And over 80 per cent of Americans
want renewable energy.